2 April 2019
April 1st-2nd, the fourth joint conference of MGIMO and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University unfolded in Boston. The event took place in the framework of a program of academic cooperation, which has been operating between the two universities since 2017. The goal was to promote mutual understanding between the two diplomatic schools and to assess the potential for cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
The previous MGIMO-Fletcher conferences on U. S.-Russia relations were held in November 2017, May 2018, and March 2019. During the conference in March in Moscow, an educational module was organized for students from
MGIMO and Fletcher during which they prepared joint reports on strategic stability and climate change. They presented their findings and policy recommendations to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, and to the U. S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman.
The conference in Boston was kicked off by MGIMO’s Vice-Rector for Graduate and International Programs Andrey Baykov, the Dean of the Fletcher School Ian Johnstone and the co-head of the project Professor Daniel Drezner. The main objective of the conference was to discuss different approaches to the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs, compare the Russian and the U. S. understandings of alliances, partnerships, and coalitions and analyse Russia-U. S. relations in the evolving world order.
Leading experts on both sides presented their country’s position and shared their insight on how to improve bilateral relations. MGIMO researchers presented their findings on a project dedicated to modern military-political alliances and Russia’s relations with allies and received valuable input from the Fletcher School professors. MGIMO representatives also delivered lectures to students of the University on the history of Russian foreign policy, power in international relations and international processes in Eurasia. The conference ended with the presentation of the book «Russia and the United States in the Evolving World Order», published in English by the MGIMO publishing house in 2018 under the general editorship of Anatoly Torkunov, Tatiana Shakleina and Norma Noonan (Augsburg College).
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
